Circa Friday Football Invitational | October 16, 2026 | Hour 1

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

25 Pro Handicappers, $30,000 on the line. This is the Circa Friday Football Invitational, presented by Omaha Steaks on VSiN, the sports betting network.

Matt Youmans (0:17)

It's a football Friday night in Las Vegas, week six of the Circa Friday Football Invitational. And we got a great guest list tonight, as we've had every Friday night. And Derek Stevens along for the ride here for the first half hour from Circa Resort and Casino. And Derek, great to see you tonight.

You fired up for another football weekend?

Derek Stevens (0:37)

It's gonna be a great weekend. I mean, Bill's in town. Holy smokes, they're coming in. They're coming in hot and heavy.

Matt Youmans (0:43)

Buffalo Bill's fans are going to fill Vegas this weekend, and that's a great thing. Welcome back to the show again this week. It's brought to you by Omaha Steaks. Right now, you get two free pounds of Ultra-Premium Ground Beef on your order of $129 or more with promo code NOBOWL at omahosteaks.com/vsin. No hype, just quality beef, NOBOWL, omahosteaks.com/vsin.

And Derek, tonight we have Pigs in a Blanket. I was a big fan of those as a kid. Pigs in a Blanket, Mac and Cheese Bites, and Filipino Egg Rolls, courtesy of Omaha Steaks.

Derek Stevens (1:15)

I never knew Omaha Steaks had this level of diversity. We've really seen a lot. We've seen a lot this football season.

Matt Youmans (1:22)

Omaha Steaks has really opened up the playbook here on Friday nights.

And expanded the menu here on Friday nights this year. All right, Derek, let's talk first about the Circus Friday Football Invitational Standings and the Average Joe. And then we'll move on to Circus Survivor in the contest and take a look at the NFL schedule this week. But Scott Pritchard is on top of the standings right now. He's on the guest list for tonight. We got Big Randy McKay, some say the sharpest gambler to ever swagger out of the state of North Dakota.

SPEAKER_1 (1:53)

You just talked with Big Randy. That's legit.

Derek Stevens (1:54)

He's outside right now.

Matt Youmans (1:56)

He's outside the studio right now. You just talked with Big Randy. He's in 7th place. He's going to kick off the guest list at 730 Eastern, 430 Pacific tonight. Also Doug Fleming, the reigning Westgate Supercontest College Contest champ and 4th place here on Friday night at 5 p.m. Pacific, followed by The Bear, Chris Follica, live from Bloomington, Indiana, former champ in this contest. Scott Pritchard, who's finished in the top six in this contest three times, twice in third place. Right now, the leader with a 24 and 11 record Las Vegas Pro better Scott Pritchard to kick off the final hour tonight. Carl Sack, professional better out of Colorado from Killer Sports is in second place. So we got first, second, fourth and seventh place on the show tonight. And take a look at the standings here with Scott Pritchard on top 24 and 11 ATS, three and two on the best bets. That gives him 25 and a half points, one point ahead of Carl Sack.

Ed Sammons, spent 33 years as a Las Vegas bookmaker and odds maker, recently retired from the Westgate. And third, 21 and 14, but five and on the best bets and pretty easy winners on those five best bets. Ed is in third, followed by Doug Fleming, the Mad Russian, Jeff Petch, Chris Macero, the defending champ, Big Randy, Kenny White, Steve Fezik, Jack Lindenberg and Tony Gordon. You know Jack Lindenberg as Potato Commish. That's a very strong leaderboard, rounded out there by Alex White and Jason Jarvis, two-time top ten finisher in the Circa Million.

Derek Stevens (3:26)

I was going to tell you, Matt, look at this field this year. This is very, very impressive.

Matt Youmans (3:32)

Guess why, Derek, we got the numbers to back it up. Check this out. All right, so the field of 25 through five weeks has a combined record of 479, 389 and seven on sides and totals. That's a win percentage of 55.2, 22 of the 25 handicappers over 500

Steve Fezik this week said this is remarkable. It's unbelievable. You're not going to see this in a public contest like this.

Derek Stevens (3:59)

Amazing. No, I would tell you. I mean, I know I'm I'm I want I want to know what these guys are doing.

I mean, if I'm making my if I'm coming to Vegas, I'm making it or I'm making my bets from wherever I'm at. I want I want to see this record. This is this is tremendous. Matt, this is this goes back to what we talked about quite a few years ago. This is exactly what you wanted to create, and it's happening. Very cool.